Charles wittenbeeg



1No Model.)`

C. WITTENBERG.

TELEPHONE REGISTER.

No. 359,307. Ptented Mm. 15, 1887.

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v vwam/lofc I @151A his: @MRM/MMA UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES VVI'ITENBERG, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO EDVARD G. CORNELIUS, OF SAME PLACE.

TELEPHONE-REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION ,forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,307, dated March 15. 1887- Application filed July 28, 1886. Serial No, 209,283. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs WTTTENBERG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Telephone-Registers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in a telephone-register for which I have made an ro application for a patent, which application was filed April 19, 1886, Serial No. 199,362, and was allowed July 7 1886. In said application a registering mechanism is shown and described as located at atelephone-station,and

wholly controlled by the operator-at the central station or exchange with which such telephone -station is connected by means of an electro-magnet which forms a part of the electric circuit connecting the telephone with the 2o exchange-station.

The obj ect of my present improvement is to provide means whereby the act of signaling the exchange from the telephone-station shall automatically operate to set the actuating-lever of a registering mechanism preparatory to carrying forward the register one point, which set mechanism shall only be released and the register thereby carried forward by an electric impulse sent from the central station 3o through the line.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing a portion of the front of the case removed and the actuating -lever of the register set ready to carry the index-hand forward one point. Fig. 2 is a front elevation showing the position of the parts when the actuating-lever of the reg ister has been released and the register carried 4o forward one point. Fig. 3 is asection through a, Fig. 1. Fig. et represents a modification of my device as applied to a different signaling device, in which the central station is called by means of a push-bar operating to close the 4 5 call-circuit.

` Arepresents the magneto-generator in common use for calling the central exchange-office in a telephone system.

Bis a case adapted to be secured to the generator-case, containing the registering mechator.

anism, and a shaft, c, mounted so as to revolve in suitable bearings, and arranged to form an extension of the driving-shaft d of the gener- A crank, e, and a cam, f, are secured to shaft c. 5 5

The register is of the step-by-step form,coxn prising the shaft 7:,carrying the ratchet-wheel t' and indexhand j, the pawl c,pivoted to the actuatinglever Z, and arranged to engage the ratchetwheehand a dial-plate, b. The actuat- 6o ing-lever l is pivoted to the case atm, and is drawn downward againsta stop,a,by a spring, o.

P is a sliding bar arranged beneath the actuating-lever Z to rest on the face of cam f, so as to be raised by the turning of the cam and shaft c, and t0 thereby raise the actuating-lever.

Q is a catch-lever pivoted to the case at 1', and having its upper end held normally forward by a spring, 3, so as to engage and sup- 7o port the actuating-lever when raised.

Ris an electromagnet, the helix of which forms a part of the electric circuit in which the subscribers telephone and the central exchange-station L are located. The lower end 7 5 of lever Q forms or carries an armature for the electro-magnet.

The operation of my device is as follows: Shafts c and cl are turned by means of the crank e, thus putting the magneto-generator in op- 8o eration, and operating the call mechanism at the central station in the usual well-known manner. Gam f, turning with shaft c, raises the sliding bar I? and the actuating-lever Z of the register until the free end of said lever is 8 5 caught and held by the upper end of the catchlever Q. Pawl 7c is thus carried forward over one tooth of the ratchet-wheel fi. The bar P, being held by the force of gravitation against the face of the cam, recedes from the actuat- 9o ing-leverf as the cam is further turned, thus leaving the lever wholly supported by the catch-lever Q. The subscriber having called for a connection with another subscriber and the operator at the central station having found 9 5 that the desired connection can be made, said operator connects the circuit t, in which the electro-magnet It is comprised,with the callcircuit i at the exchange, thus sending a strong electric impulse to the magnet, drawing to the 10o magnet the lower end of lever Q, and releasing the actuating-lever Z,which is drawn down by the spring o, thus turning the ratchet-wheel, its shaft, and the indeX- hand forward one point and registering at the subscribers station the call and use of the telephone. In case the desired connection cannot be made,the 0perator at the central station does not send the current to the magnet and the register' is not Operated, the actuating-lever remaining set and unaffected by any future call until the desired connect-ion has been made. In the modification shown in Fig. 4 bar P is raised and the actuating-lever set by means of the pushbar n, which carries a wedge-shaped projection, e, arranged beneath the bar l), the bar being pushed inward to bring together the terminals x y of a battery-circuit for the purpose of operating a signaling mechanism at the central station,and being returned to its normal position by the spring z.

By the use of my device the act of registering the use of the telephone at thesubscribers station becomes the jointaet of thesubscriber, who by the act of signaling the central station sets the actuating-lever of the register, and the operator at the exchange, who releases the aetuatinglever and thereby operates the register, which act can only be performed while the subserbers telephone is in circuit with the central station.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a system for registering the numberof times that a telephone is used, the combination at a subscribers station, with the signaling mechanism of the telephone, of a counting register, intermediate mechanism connecting said register and said signaling mechanism, whereby the actuating lever of the register is set preparatory to moving the reg ister-indeX forward one point by the movement of the signaling mechanism, means for retaining said lever when set, means for antoinatically moving said lever when released7 and an electro-magnet in the saine electric circuit with the telephone and arranged to release the actuatinglever of the register from its retaining mechanism, whereby each movement of the registering mechanism becomes the joint act of the user of the telephone at the subscriber7s station and the operator at th'e exchange-station, substantially as described.

2. In a telephoneregister,the following elements, namely: a shaft arranged to revolve, a cani secured to said sha-ft so as to revolve therewith, a registering mechanism having an actuating-lever arranged to be moved in one direction only by the rotation of said cam, a catch-lever arranged to retain said actuating lever when inoved by the cam, and an electromagnet arranged to move said catch-lever so as to release the actuatinglever, all combined substantially as specified.

CHARLES VITTEN BERG.

Vitnesses:

H. P. HOOD, V. M. Hoon. 

